This is Creepy

Have you ever wondered what makes things creepy? Not scary, not even strange, creepiness is somewhere between these two adjectives. A tiger is scary. A perpetual motion machine is strange. But is any of them creepy? Nope.

Now that we have soundly established what we mean by creepiness, let us venture into the domain of  trying to decipher why certain things are creepy and others are not. Lets take some examples from history.

Hitler and Mao Tse Tung. Those are two autocrats generally frowned upon in history as excessively cruel. However, hardly anybody knows more about Tse Tung than they do about Hitler. Mao's regime saw thousands killed, and piles of bones ragged everywhere, and the destruction was equal, if not more than in Hitler's rule. Still, there is an aura, a component of something that is present in the Nazi Germany absent in Autocratic China, that makes Nazi regime terrifying and somewhat creepier than any other cruel ruler or his rule. Perhaps it was the weird and sick 'scientific' tag attached to some of his activities?Perhaps it was the complete automated and systematic genocide? Perhaps we can never know for sure.

Now take a look at this picture. A Teddy, right? It seems cute and smushy, but some people are terrified of this picture. It is a still from the video game, 'Five Nights at Freddie's' There is nothing intimidating or particularly dangerous in the picture, but the components in thisa picture just do  not fit. The Teddy, the eyes, the teeth, they seem..... quite..... out of place maybe?

Some people find clowns funny. Others find it terrifying to the extent that they might faint at the sight of one. Whats so terrifying about clowns? they would answer that clowns are creepy. So, is creepiness not universal? Might it be affected by personal choices and experiences? If that is true, then when we observe some things equally creepy to all of us, can we ensure that there is something all of us human beings have in common subconsciously? Is there something that binds all of our minds together?

We can get the evolutionary reason for sensing fear. Its a danger evading technique. We also get the reason for feeling strange. Its the core of curiosity and scientific discovery. But do we get the reason for creepiness? I do not think we do. 

These are just open ended questions with no right answers. Not that i know of at least. Maybe its high time we think about these and try to get a peace of mind.